Elder Drake McFall: Week 20

Good day!

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend, filled with the spirit of Christ and in remembrance of his great and eternal sacrifice! For me it was obviously different, but fulfilling in a much different way. It truly is a privilege and honor to be able to go around and teach people more about all that our Savior and Redeemer has done for us. And then to invite them to really come to know of the truthfulness for themselves. To add on that, to actually see the change come into their lives--what an experience!! Our Easter was a lot of fun! The Uwazny's ( my new family up here) haha invited us over for the Easter Bunny. We got all sorts of candy there and for me it is just so much fun to see the kids all getting so excited! It's been fun being able to be a part of that family. Definitely ones I will want to keep in touch with when I am home. Then we had church obviously, then we went around to a few different people, had Easter supper with the Uwazny's, and then one more appt, that seems to elude me at the moment that night. Overall it was a good day. Really just another day in the life of a missionary, that is okay though. Pday was postponed this week because the Library was closed for "Easter Monday"..pretty ridiculous. Another excuse for a holiday I guess!

Training has been a blast so far! My companion's name is Elder Winterbottom, from Clearfield, Utah! He is a great guy, super fun to have around! He loves to hunt, fish, and camp, so as you can imagine we get along beautifully! We have a lot in common even above that, so things are joyous. He turns 19 in June I believe it is..So I got one of the young-ins! It makes me feel so much older being a trainer and seeing someone who is so new to the mission. I mean sure I am almost 5 months(which is crazy) but at the same time, it's so much more than what he is at! Life as a trainer is a blast! It's kind of nice being able to actually just do the things I want to do! ha that definitely can be a bad thing though if you get in the way of the spirit! Hopefully that isn't the case though as we are constantly praying to try and find inspiration of what to do and how to fill our schedule. Serving as the senior companion is definitely a responsibility, but I can see how the experiences and situations I have been in prior to this have prepared me for this. We get a lot done! We have been so busy he didn't even have a chance to unpack! Now that is what I am talking about!! We have had some good success stories lately...however not many involve our current investigators. We really only have one investigator that is progressing, but that is something we are working on! Last week while tracting, we actually got about 3 really good potentials, gave a book of Mormon to two of them, and will follow up this week with appts! Hopefully that goes well!

We have also been able to get a hold of a lot of the less-actives in the area lately and been able to have them actually have this desire to change. It's so cool to see them make the choice for themselves. One family we had FHE with last night, has told us that they really have a desire to move towards the temple. What a blessing that will be for them in their family. It will be a process, but I am overjoyed for the opportunity to help them along the way. They are the Oates family. It was good because the dad was telling us how he knows it is up to him. It's all because he is lazy. I talked to them about the temple, something that came to me last week as I was thinking of how to help all the people in the area. They said they really want to and they are going to do all they can do to get there. It will be a process, but so worth it.. he called and said that he will be to watch conference with us with the family on Sunday. He said if they aren't there we can give up on them. He said how much they have been given, and how they need to do their part. Now obviously we would NEVER give up on them, but it's cool to see how he has this change of heart.

A pretty cool thing that happened this last week to was we have a couple new families moving into the ward. One of them, the Gibbert's, are all recent converts, moving from BC. We are actually going to go over to his place Friday, well his mom's place as he is up here alone until he gets his house built and his family comes over in June, and visit even more with him. His mom isn't a member, and he said that she is really being prepared. Hopefully we get the chance to talk more with her too!

The work is going well right now, things are almost so busy we don't even have time to think! That is how it should be though! We have meetings with almost all of our investigators this week, which will be nice to be able to get back working with all of them after the month long hiatus down in Stony Plain.

With the weather warming up, talking to people is a bit better. They are much more willing to stand outside and actually talk to you instead of just opening the door enough to say they aren't interested. It allows us to talk to a lot more people, I have seen the change already. Not only that--but people are so much more happy now!! Our investigators are progressing like crazy right now. Really cool things have been happening though in some regards. Our one progressing investigator right now is Madi, the 9 year old girl. They have been at church 3 weeks in a row now! It's great! You can see the change happening in their lives, and it truly is marvelous. We have had some success lately tracting actually, which is rare. I handed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon last week when we were tracting, now it is just hoping that they can turn into something more than just a handout. I'll follow on them all this week probably. We have been able to see some good progress with some less-actives. We are going to go over to try and get a hold of the lady who got back from Belize, hopefully set up an appt this weekend...and truthfully try and get her on a baptismal date. I will update more when things pick up with some other investigators. It's just been really neat to see how I really "don't take the thought beforehand what I shall say, it is meted to me in the very moment" (a slight paraphrase of a D&C verse ha) There was a lady, one of our new 'gators' last week. We were teaching her and I felt guided to what to read, what to say, and ended up leaving her a challenge to read from the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy. It went so well, hopefully things have developed positively.

Not anything too crazy happened this last week...well it probably did but I can't remember! I will work on that! I am looking forward to conference this weekend though! I am ashamed to say, I think this will be the first general conference that I will watch the whole thing. Rebel child I suppose. But something me and my companion were talking about this morning. I referenced to the scripture in D&C talking about whether it is by the voice of Christ or of his servants (the Prophet) it is the same. Yes I know, a huge paraphrase, but it really is the truth. We are truthfully hearing the Word of God and hearing his will for each of us...but do we actually realize the opportunity it is? I know I didn’t! But now I do!! Hopefully you all make the time to enjoy and indulge in the words that will be spoken. You will hear what you want to hear as long as you search out the answer.

I love you all! I'll talk to you soon!

Love, Elder McFall

Me and the comp, Elder Brexton Winterbottom - I cut my own hair, what ya think?